Gardening On the Rise in Economic Hard Times | Care2 Causes

In a time of economic hardship, more and more Americans are choosing to tend their own gardens, literally. Bruce Butterfield, research director at the National Gardening Association (NGA), says that vegetable gardening is on the rise across the nation, according to the New York Times . George Ball, chief executive of Burpee, one of the US’s largest vegetable-seed retailers, says that sales have “skyrocketed,” adding that “the jump began around the time Lehman Brothers collapsed in 2008, when anxiety about money started to rise.” Specifically, the NGA says that “seven million more households plan to grow their own fruits, vegetables, herbs, or berries in 2009 than in 2008, a 19 percent increase in participation.” 2007 to 2008 saw a 10 percent increase in vegetable gardening. Butterfield also says that purveyors of gardening supplies have seen an increase in sales in the pas...